Section of Nokia employees stage sit-in strike in Chennai

A section of employees of Finnish handset maker Nokia India’s manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur near here went on a sudden “sit-in strike” on Tuesday demanding wage revision and revocation of suspension of around 50 employees, union sources said.

“Over 1,000 employees who reported for two shifts went on a sit-in strike this afternoon,” they told PTI.

In January this year, the union members went on a strike demanding reinstatement of 62 colleagues who were suspended for “serious acts of misconduct”. Following talks, the company had agreed to revoke the suspension.

However, union sources alleged the management had taken back only 10 of the 62 employees.

“We expected all the suspended (employees) would be taken back. But they were not,” an official of the union said.

He demanded that the company also grant one per cent of the profit as pay package for the employees.

When contacted, a company spokesperson denied any kind strike at the plant. “There is no form of any strike. The factory is running smoothly,” he said.

The Sriperumbudur plant, with a headcount of around 8,000, about 75 per cent of them women, produces about four lakh handsets a day.